Menagerie Sensei
by MADEGlorious
Summary: Collection of stories surrounding Squad Seven with different Sensei's. Some will be one shots, some won't. Also this is just a little side project that I jump to from time to time. So, don't expect avid updates.
1. Kakashi-sensei

Today was like any other. He woke up at the dawn of butt crack. Checked in with the Godaime. Ate something, sort of. Visited his old team at the shrine. For quite a few hours. Then, he met with his current team.

On the bridge, as usual. His cute little genin didn't have that common air of annoyance at his tardiness. In fact, they looked to be damn well blissful. This concerned him. His concern grew when he noticed both Sai and Sasuke were in on it, as well.

"Did you eat, Kaka-sensei?" Sakura spoke first with a painfully innocent grin on her face.

"A few protein bars." Was his terse reply as he was trying to get a feel of the situation he was in.

"Let us take you out to eat." She offered and he had to look at his watch. Just a bit past one. His eye scanned the faces of his male genin. They were allowing Sakura to take the lead.

He thought of reasons for such a treat. It wasn't his birthday. It wasn't any of their birthdays, though Sakura's was around the corner. It wasn't their anniversary. Naruto made them celebrate it every month. It would probably be best to ask, he decided.

"What's the occasion?" He said coolly, his lone eye landing on the only female of the group.

She grabbed his hand, which slightly surprised him. They had only been together about half a year. They weren't all that close as of yet. The sentiment nearly threw him for a loop. "No reason, Kaka-sensei."

She attempted to pull him along but he wouldn't budge. Naruto grabbed his other hand while Sasuke and Sai pushed him from behind. Kakashi was baffled, to say the least.

They ended up at a restaurant called Ichimaru's. He knew it all too well. He came here often with his former team. Rin loved the way they prepared the vegetables. Obito loved the meat. He, himself, had dubbed them the best eggplant chefs in the village. Minato simply loved a happy team.

He froze just before they could enter the premises. Somewhere, through his myriad of emotions, he sensed Gai. This had to have been his doing.

He pulled himself from his genin. Couldn't bring himself to step back into this place after everything that happened. He took a few steps back.

"Why not just go to Ichiraku's? I'm certain it is more within your price range." He proposed doing well to keep the pain out of his voice.

Naruto laughed, "No worries, Kaka-sensei, Teme's, paying for most of it so the rest of us won't go broke!" He was overly excited as usual. But not eating ramen means he was being incredibly thoughtful.

"I, for one, am quite tired of ramen." Sai commented with a barely concealed look of disgust.

Sasuke only looked vaguely annoyed at him trying to deny their act of kindness.

Finally, he looked to his cherry blossom. The heart of the whole operation, it seemed. Her smile was pitying and kind and full of so much love he didn't know she had the capacity to hold. Those viridian orbs showed gentleness and omniscient knowledge of his life. He felt exposed. Felt vulnerable.

Her smile widened and brightened, chasing his darkness away. She offered her hand. "I hear this place has the best eggplant dishes."

He felt heat well up behind his eyes but wouldn't let a single tear fall. He didn't know that the boys had already gone inside until Sakura entangled their fingers and steered him indoors.

Nothing had changed inside Ichimaru's. Though, the booth they always sat it had a giant 7 painted elegantly in gold on the table. Turns out the table was dedicated to he and his former squad. Kakashi was grateful for that. However, he was more grateful for the team he had now. He knew they would continue to surprise him and become the best Konoha has to offer.

He ruffled Sakura's hair and sat down next to Sasuke. She sat between Naruto and Sai. The food was pre-ordered and Naruto challenged everyone to an eating contest. Only Sasuke and Sai obliged. Then they fought over who won. Sakura put an end to that by clobbering and scolding them.

Kakashi chuckled, they would probably never be allowed back in again. He hoped they could at least keep the table.

He sat in a tree reading the ever entertaining Icha Icha. Gai was below him waiting for him to speak. To which the taijutsu user wouldn't wait very long.

"How much did you tell her?" He asked not taking his head away from his book.

"Nothing too personal", he replied pointedly. "She doesn't know the how's and when's or what's but she knows enough."

"Why?"

"She wanted to know. She stopped me before I could go into detail."

Kakashi thought about that. She got to know stuff about him but wasn't willing to cross any lines. She also hadn't told the boys.

Kakashi released a breath of content. He shut his book and stood. "Thank you, Gai." Then he was gone before Gai's brain could catch up to him.

Kakashi now stood on a roof overlooking the the training grounds his genin were occupying. One day he would tell them everything. That day was obviously not today. For now, he would spend time with them as a team. No, more than that, a family.


	2. Naruto-sensei

Naruto was a good sensei. He was kind but he was fair. He was brawns but that didn't mean he didn't have brains. So, when his students did something so monumentally stupid he had to punish them.

They were currently lined up next to each other. All eyes were downcast as they were all ashamed. He thought it was as it should be. He was not pleased with his students. And that was a severe understatement. His arms were crossed above his chest as his azure irises glared into the souls of his genin.

"What the hell were you thinking?" His voice had always been heavy and booming but never had it taken to scaring them shitless.

"Sensei, we-" her little voice squeaked and he hated it but he couldn't hide his anger.

"It was rhetorical, Sakura!" He interrupted her fiercely causing the only female to flinch and the males to move closer to her sides. He took a moment to calm himself minimally. "You could have died if I hadn't shown up. Sasuke, I understand your hatred for your brother and your need to kill him in cold blood but you are nowhere near ready to face him. What's worse is you got your team involved in your schemes and nearly got them killed." He whirled on Kakashi. "And you. I expected more out of you, Kakashi. You're the most mature one here and you made the call to aid Sasuke in his endeavors. What would either of you had done if Sakura had ended up dead? Unlike you two she wasn't deemed a prodigy. She has no great name to back her abilities."

"Naruto-sensei, please—!" Sakura started again desperate for him to listen.

"Sakura—!" He warned but she wasn't yielding twice.

"We weren't going to fight Sasuke-kuns brother!" And this shut him up bringing about his curiosity.

"Then what were you doing?"

She looked to her left then her right, Sasuke and Kakashi were going to let her have the stage. She held her hands out and they unconsciously took one in their own. "We were trying to get you tickets to that Ramen convention."

"We were only going to the next village over. Got permission from the Godaime." Kakashi said oddly in a rather timid fashion but giving Sakura's hand a squeeze.

"We didn't know Itachi would be there. It was only supposed to be some stupid scavenger hunt contest. But I saw Itachi and—" Sasuke couldn't bring himself to finish. He was embarrassed that he reacted so carelessly.

Sakura squeezed his hand and finished for him. "—He lost control of himself, Naruto-sensei. But we couldn't just let him go up against him on his own. Kakashi-kun and I just sort of fell into step with him. Like it was instinct to aid him regardless of the enemy's power."

Naruto released a long tired breath. His genin were only trying to get him a gift. Wouldn't it technically be his fault that they ran into trouble? If not for him they would never have been there in the first place. He assessed them. They didn't seem to have anything wrong with them physically, though, Kami knew something wasn't right in their heads.

He ruffled Kakashi and Sasuke's hair while placing his forehead to Sakura's. "You did good. You didn't abandon your teammate. I'm proud of you but next time—" and he sincerely hoped there wasn't a next time. "Keep that anger in check, Sasuke? And you two keep your teammate in check. Even if you have to drag his ass back yourselves." He chuckled at the last part when Sasuke appeared to be exasperated.

"Yes, Naruto-sensei." Sakura confirmed in an adorable singsong voice while his boys nodded.

"Now that that's fine with…" The blond straightened and placed his knuckles on his waist. "Did you win the scavenger hunt?"

Sasuke smirked and whipped out four VIP passes to the ramen convention. "We weren't gonna lose to a bunch of civilians. Even with the handicap of not using our techniques."

The soon to be Hokage leapt for joy. "Alright, 'ttebayo! Let's celebrate with ramen!" The team groaned their disappointment but made for Ichiraku with a pep in their step. Naruto held Sakura back. "Listen, Sakura-chan, I didn't mean to belittle you or anything. I was just—"

The pinkette shook her head and smiled. "I'm not as strong as Sasuke-kun or Kakashi and I'll probably never be. And that's okay because one day I will be strong enough to be more than the only girl in their team. That's why I've asked for Tsunade-sama's tutelage and I'm getting better. One day they'll watch my back as I save their asses."

She giggled then went to catch up with her team leaving Naruto with a brilliant smile. He knew this team would make him the proudest of all the teachers in the village, one day. Today, however, ramen was on the brain and Sakura just announced that the last to make it there was paying.


	3. Shikamaru-sensei

His genin were a pain in the ass. Especially now that they were grown and able to take care of themselves. It's like they didn't need him anymore.

He scoffed at that. Of course, they would need him. They would always need him.

He sat up from earth's lush green blanket. Irritation had become his new(and unwelcome) friend. His genin were no longer such. They'd just graduated to chunin. About a two years or so ago. They believed they were ready for the jounin exams. The fucking jounin exams! It seemed like just yesterday they were genin.

He took out a cigarette, put it to his lips, and set its head aflame. Cloud gazing was a bust today. Not a single cloud in sight. He took a long drag out his cigarette then released the smoke with a melancholy sigh. This was too damn troublesome.

He closed his eyes. He needed to clear his head. He was starting to sound like a mother.

When he opened his eyes Sakura was coming toward him. She sat between his legs and didn't say a word. Not long after he felt Naruto's chakra and he sat against his left side. Then Sai to his right. And Sasuke to his back.

Shikamaru didn't know what was going on but they all exuded a plethora of negative emotions that he couldn't decipher. He wanted to say something but somehow felt like that wouldn't be the right move. So, he waited.

He could recall a time they had done this before. It as their first mission as chunin. A retrieval mission. They had no way of knowing the Akatsuki would also be after their target. So it went from a simple C ranked to an S real quick. They failed. The target was eliminated by the Akatsuki and they were in bad shape.

Back then, he was just promoted to clan head. He was in his office when Sakura came and perched herself on his lap and soon the rest followed suit. And all to quickly, they were asleep.

His cigarette burned all the way to the butt. He flicked away absently. Were they asleep now? He rested his chin atop Sakura's head, silently prompting her to say something.

"Sasuke's engaged." Naruto beat her to the punch.

Fucking clan politics. He just turned sixteen a few weeks ago.

"It's not within his clan, Sensei." Sakura informed him her tone bordering hurt and annoyed.

"It's to strengthen ties with the other shinobi villages." Even Sai sounded out of it and he always picked fights with his Uchiha teammate.

Sakura sniffled, she was obviously crying. "Teme isn't the only one either. Shino, some girl from Inuzuka and... Neji." Sakura cried harder at that.

She and Neji had been going strong for a little over a year. Now, he was being torn from her. Behind him, Sasuke was quivering against him. He hadn't so much as uttered a sound.

Shikamaru stood, in the middle of his students he noticed they were all in tears. They had locked hands, it was their coping mechanism. No hugs or words, just hands.

He made up his mind. Because he'd be damned if this was how his students, his kids, flames went out.

"I'll take care of this." And take care of it he would.

When he arrived hours later he found them huddled around Sasuke with Neji wrapped around Sakura. They

held hands. He'd smile if he didn't have

bad news to share with them.

All eyes were on him when they sensed him. And they were waiting with baited breaths. Hopeful eyes and hopeful hearts. He heaved a sigh and shook his head.

Naruto turned to the group, determination and fire in those azure orbs. "We'll find a way. Sasuke. Sakura-chan. Neji. We'll find a way, 'ttebayo." And then he was gone.

Shikamaru glanced to his cherry blossom student to find she was staring at him. He followed Naruto.

"There's gotta be another way to make those old geezers happy!"

"Naruto-" Kakashi began with a groan.

"We can't let them take our shinobi! I won't let them!" Naruto was screaming his head off when Shikamaru arrived.

"My hands are tied, Naruto. The Gokage will except nothing less than our best. Honestly, it's this or an all out war. Suna is currently our only Ally. Then it would be the two of us against three great shinobi nations. It would be just our luck if the smaller nations decided to join our opposed."

"What are they giving us?" Shikamaru said as he strolled in not bothering to knock.

"I think it would be in my best interest assert a knocking clause." Kakashi sighed his annoyance. "I assume your lack of manners are due to the same reason as our knucklehead ninja?"

"A show of good faith? We're giving away some highly skilled shinobi, not to mention powerful kekkei genkai. What are they offering us in return?" Shikamaru finished his piece, pleased that the Rokudaime Hokage had leaned back in his chair with thoughtful consideration.

The thought had appeared to him upon the first visit to his Kage. He hadn't considered it because they were working on the premise of peace. Such thoughts would undoubtedly contribute to some animosity between the villages once more. Hopefully, the current Kage would be more level headed about this.

"You aren't wrong." The Hokage finally started after a pregnant pause. "But I would prefer not to disturb the fragile peace that has been established." Shikamaru's shoulders slumped and Naruto's bright features sagged.

"There's gotta be something you can do!" Naruto was on the verge of begging. Such was unbecoming of a shinobi of his caliber. He'd have to tell him about that.

"There is." The copy-nin spoke tersely.

"But Sakura-chan and Teme-!" Shikamaru clamped a hand on his former students infinitely talking pie hole.

"There's something you can do?" The Nara clan head repeated with hope. Naruto made a sound of triumph.

"In an era of peace there's this such word as compromise." He called for his assistant. "Rin-chan, I need you to set up a Gokage summit."

"Yes, Lord Sixth." She scurried off with a light chuckle when Kakashi quipped something about her formality.

"Now would be the time to tell your students some good news." The Sixth told him pointedly. Shikamaru gave a lopsided smirk while Naruto cheered.


End file.
